Yes, you can pass the Security Plus exam in a month (or less). Many other people have done it. Why not you?
If you really want to earn this certification, and you have some IT experience, you can pass the Security Plus exam and earn this certification. Here are seven simple steps.
“Knowing Is Not Enough; We Must Apply.
Wishing Is Not Enough; We Must Do.”
– Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
1) Get a Good Study Guide to Pass Security Plus Exam
The first step to pass the Security plus exam in a month or less is to get a good study guide. I hear from people almost daily that have passed the exam using the CompTIA Security Plus: Get Certified Get Ahead: SY0-601 Study Guide.
Don’t take my word for it though. Check out these reviews on Amazon. Here are a few sample comments:
Main study resource used and I passed my Security+ examg 5 stars
“I just passed my Security+ exam yesterday with and this book was my main study resource. I spent the last couple weeks reading it cover to cover and taking handwritten notes which helped tremendously. I would definitely suggest using other resources like videos or Udemy courses as well, but for me a book works best and I believe this one helped me pass the exam.”
Great Book to study for the exam 5 stars
“This Book is really helpful and easy to read to understand the material, Great Book to study for the exam.”
Great book so far 5 stars
I bought this book because someone I know said they really liked the version for the 501. I’m glad I took their suggestion!
It is a great book if you don’t have a lot of experience and if this is say, your first CompTIA certification. It does a great job of laying a foundation before just jumping into how to do something. It first explains the why. I personally really like that. I also bought the exam cram for the 601 and compTIA’s certmaster — this book is by far the best of the bunch for me. I wish I had bought this one first!
I did have a hard time at first finding where to download the appendices, labs, and other supplemental material, but a few Google searches I was able to find them. Then I felt dumb because as I finished chapter one – eureka! – it states were you can find the extra material under the ‘online references’ before you start the chapter review questions.
Look no further – this is the book you need! 5 stars
like the way the author uses real-life events to help me understand complex topics. As an example, SCADA was a fuzzy topic for me, but when he connected it to the Merrimack Valley disaster killing one person, causing 50,000 people to be evacuated, at a cost of more than $1 billion, it helped me understand the risks to SCADA systems.
The CompTIA Security Plus: Get Certified Get Ahead: SY0-601 Study Guide is available in both a paperback and Kindle format.
You can also get supplementary materials for the Security Plus study guide including:
- Audio from the Security Plus study guide
- Flashcards using material from the Security Plus study guide
- Practice test questions in an online testing engine from the Security Plus study guide
- Simulated performance based questions in an online testing engine
2) Do the Assessment
As soon as you get the Security Plus book, do the Assessment exam at the beginning of the book.
When doing practice test questions from the book, write down your answers on a piece of paper instead of marking up the book. This way you can take the questions again later without seeing the answers circled.
Alternatively, you can purchase the online practice test questions. The 60 day packages include the questions organized by chapters along with more than 90 new multiple choice questions and performance-based questions..
3) Get a Discount Voucher and Schedule Your Exam
Schedule your Security Plus exam for 30 days after you do the assessment.
You can get a free code for a discounted voucher here.
This coupon code will give you 10% off any CompTIA test vouchers. However, it is NOT valid for any of the CompTIA packages at this time. In other words, this code won’t work for any of the CompTIA bundles.
4) Start Studying
Read half a chapter a day for four days in row.
- After reading, review the Chapter Review topics for what you read.
- After the review, do at least 10 of the practice test questions for the chapter.
- After doing the practice test questions, take the time to read the explanation.
5) Mix Studying with Review
After four days of studying new material, take one day for review.
- Reread all the chapter reviews from chapters you’ve finished.
- Do all of the practice test questions that you’ve finished previously.
- Look at blog articles for any topics that interest you or you want to dig into deeper.
Some blog articles that might interest you are:
- Security Plus Performance-based Questions
- Performance-based Question FAQs
- 5 Performance-based Questions Tips
- 7 Steps to Security Plus (SY0-501) Certification
- Firewall Configuration Performance Question
After the review day, spend the next four days reading new material followed by another day of review. The last set of studying days will be only two days of new material.
If you want to use a day-by-day study plan, you can use this one.